Though the booklet
speaks of "concertos" this
is more strictly a concertante disc,
best exemplified by Feld’s 2005 Musique
concertante. The performances were
recorded in September 2006 and bring
us the work of three senior Czech composers,
though Kalabis alas died toward the
end of that month; his Tristium,
itself a lament for a departed friend,
takes on added significance in this
context.

Feld’s Musique concertante
arose through a friendship between
the composer and the Luxembourg Ambassador
to Prague – hence the Luxembourg crest
on the booklet cover. This is not simply
its first recording it’s the first performance
as well – the first public performance
is planned for the Rudolfinum in March
2007. It’s written for the well-established
and excellent trio of flautist Carlo
Jans, violist Jitka Hosprová
and harpist Kateřina
Englichová. Cast in three traditional
movements this is a propulsive and textually
aerated work, with finely distributed
writing for the three players and finely
balanced against the string orchestra.
Feld moves from mild abrasion to Martinů-like
moments. The slow movement is perhaps
the most intriguing. The eerie and lulling
sonorities – like a nocturnal phantasmagoria
– are replete with little running patterns.
They lead on to a quotation from Machaut
(his name unfortunately misspelled in
the booklet) - his Ma chiere dame,
a vous mon cuer envoy, though the
annotators prefer the modern French
spelling "coeur" to the correct
"cuer". Its appearance at
2:38 is not entirely dissimilar to Britten’s
use of Dowland in Lachrymae,
though it appears here stated in full
and is then subject to some working
out before the orchestra returns to
its balm. The finale is a percussive
dance with plenty of excitement and
virtuosity.

The other Feld piece
is the Sonata for flute and string orchestra
– originally written for flute and piano
in 1957 but heard here in the 1965 expansion.
Here the influences are broadly Franco-Prokofiev.
There’s the witty detachment of the
former and the rather unsettled lyricism
of the latter and both are held together
in fine balance. The geniality of the
opening is matched by an unsettled slow
movement – a compelling structure, and
played with real understanding by the
duo. The finale is a playful release
with touches perhaps of Poulenc along
the way.

Lukáš’s Music
for Harp and Strings is undated though
certainly written before 1984, the year
quoted for an archival radio performance.
As ever Lukáš proves a master
of folkloric integration and heartfelt
lyricism. Rather than give his three
movements conventional names he prefers
the bald time
signatures. The work sounds at times
like an extemporised harp solo in a
Dvořák opera, albeit one tinged
with modern harmonies. It has a resonant
ballad beauty that proved utterly impossible
for this reviewer to resist. The finale
is a gorgeous thing, its motoric
moments sounding briefly but disconcertingly,
and I’m sure entirely coincidentally,
like a Bohemian John Adams.

Kalabis was Lukáš’s
teacher so it’s fitting that we have
Tristium, his twelve-minute tribute
strongly modelled on Hindemith’s Trauermusik.
It owes its genesis to the illness and
death of a friend and alternatives tempi
and emotive conditions strongly mirroring
the feelings of hope and resignation
– despair and faith as the composer
notes them – experienced by the patient,
Dr.Z.F. This gripping and melancholy
work was first performed by Lubomír
Malý with the Slovak Chamber
Orchestra conducted by Bohdan Warchal
in 1986. Kalabis died after the booklet
was printed, fittingly perhaps on the
Feast Day of St. Wenceslas. We salute
the memory of a brave, steadfast and
noble man.

The booklet picture
shows three austere wind turbines slowly
revolving in darkening skies. I can’t
say I’m a great admirer of wind farms
– they only work when the wind blows
and look appalling – but if they’re
somehow emblematically meant to represent
these three Czech composers then don’t
let that put you off. Austerity and
bogus productivity are the last things
one should expect of Feld, Kalabis and
Lukáš – three composers of humanity,
facility and depth.

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